MIT scientists headed by professor Anantha Chandrakasan have developed an innovative electronic chip, which could be a first step towards battery-free systems. This chip can operate on exceptionally low power, and concurrently collect energy from a range of sources, including heat, sunlight, and environmental vibrations. What’s important, it won’t stop working in case one energy source gets cut off. “Energy harvesting is becoming a reality. The key here is the circuit that efficiently combines many sources of energy into one,” says Chandrakasan. The system utilizing a ground-breaking dual-path architecture allows the sensor to either be powered from a storage device or from the source directly, completely bypassing the storage system.Via: inhabitat.com